Fulfill Your Hiking Dream! Here to help fellow hikers by offering wisdom, ideas, and lessons learned from a two-time AT North and South, Long Trail, Foothills Trail, Allegheny Trail, Colorado Trail, Florida Trail, Shenandoah Nat'l Park 500 miler completions. Former AT Ridgerunner for six years, Author, Speaker on Hiking and Backpacking

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Thru Hiking the Appalachian Trail on a Budget

Blissful Hiking welcomes a guest blog post by "Biscuits" who just completed his thru hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2012. He offers advice on how to have a cheap but memorable thru hike.

I completed the trail this year 2012 northbound from 3/22-7/23 (4
months 1 day with 10 zeros). Yes, I went kind of fast. Not because I
had to, but because that was my pace. I spent under $2600. This $2600
includes everything from getting off the plane in Atlanta to stepping
off the plane in Dallas. This was done with zero maildrops. I
purchased all my food on the trail. I recommend starting the trail with
$4000+ but that does not mean you have to spend it all. Hiker hostel in Georgia ($80), includes dinner, breakfast, pickup from airport, drop of at Amicalola State Park
First, What the $2600 does not include: starting gear, plane ticket to Atlanta, first 4 days of food.

What $2600 bought me:
$150 spent on 2 pairs of new shoes, $50 on 3 new pairs of socks, $40
for superfeet, $35 raft at NOC, other on trail gear purchases (aqua
mira, etc.), and around $300 for bus/plane ticket home from Boston.
~$575 on gear/trip home

I stayed in hostels all the time and a few hotels which I always shared (all prices subject to change for 2013): Bold - likely to be around in 2013 Non-bold - unlikely to be available in 2013 ? - unsure of price

~$437 for hostels and hotels, I stayed at a few more campgrounds
that I can not remember that were around $5 each (showers/elec). A
total of 32 stays some double and triple nights with 124 days on the
trail, so roughly a bed/shower/laundry every 4 days. The biggest reason
however for staying at a hostel was they typically included rides into
town for groceries when stores were outside of reasonable walking
distance.

$2600-$575-$437= $1588~$1588 is how much I spent on food/fuel/consumables.
On the trail I typically carried around 4 days of food. Through the
Smokies I carried 5 days of food. From NJ to Mass I carried around 2
days of food. The deli's from NJ to Mass are amazing other than paying
$1 for fruit!
This averages to ~$13 a day, or better ~$40 for 4 days of food from the
grocery + ~$10 at a restaurant. This is actually really close to
receipt purchases. In the south before the appetite hit I was spending
around $30 at the grocery stores. In the northern sections I was eating
more and the price of food went up, so I was spending around $50.

Some further break downs. Out of that ~$1588 food budget I ate ~$500
(120 days x 4 per day x ~$1 each) in bars (power bars, cliff bars, luna
bars, kind bars, etc.). I ate somewhere around $150 in pop tarts.

In my opinion I splurged often and enjoyed myself. Plenty of
comfortable nights and good food. Sometimes even at nicer sit down
restaurants and an occasional AYCE (all you can eat). I enjoyed my hike and I have no
regrets not spending more money. I got to see Washington D.C. (on
Memorial Day btw), and everything else the trail had to offer.
Admittedly I would have liked to see NYC, but the opportunity was not
logistically simple enough. AT train only runs on weekends
So what does this all mean or "some tips for spending less"?

If I did the average 6 month completion date I would
have spent around $3400 if everything went perfect (no broken gear). I
saved myself $800 spending 2 less months on the trail. Walk faster or
walk longer (get up early or walk later into the day, spend less time
eating lunch, maybe even eat lunch on the go)

If I
varied my diet less and consumed cheaper food (peanuts instead of bars,
off brand pop tarts, more ramen) I could have easily saved a lot of
food money. ~$100 saved eating only ramen, ~$300 saved eating peanuts
instead of bars, etc.

If I only went to donation based hostels and did not donate I could have saved $437.

Don't pay to set up your tent. You can save that money by walking out of town and setting up your tent.

Do
not splurge on activities if money is tight. Rafting was incredibly
fun, but I would not have gone if it would break the bank.

If money is an issue avoid tourist traps (Gatlinburg, D.C., NYC etc.)

Don't
buy new gear until you have properly worn out your current gear. I
bought 2 pairs of shoes at the same time to save on shipping when my
first pair died. I never needed the third pair because the second made
it barely to Katahdin.

Maildrops have their pros and cons. They may save you money.

Some
towns cater to hikers. I got free food, free lunch, free drinks etc.
The guide book has most of these, but sometimes trail rumors and
registries can hold some gems.

People are nice. They may
offer you some serious trail magic if they notice you are thru hiking
and live close by. Be courteous and people will open their doors for
you.

Hiker boxes can contain just what you were looking for. Hit them before going shopping.

If you hike with others and they receive maildrops hit them up before they drop any extras in the hiker box.

Double
nero instead of taking a zero. Short walk into town, sleep in town,
leave town late next day and don't walk far out of town. Spend money
for 1 night in hostel/hotel instead of 2 nights for a zero.

4 comments:

Wow, this was so helpful! For one thing, it's been hard finding information written by women, especially on issues like how quickly I can realistically thru-hike and what I need to do to make that happen (my goal is 5 months so that I finish before grad school starts).

Noting everything you've written, I have the gist of what I need and want to know. I personally planned to stay here in Denver through the winter saving up until May, June '15 being the latest I want to start and basically wing it. And being a minimalist I don't necessarily plan on sleeping in town or in payable sites. That being said is there anything you'd like to share with me that you haven't already?